The present invention relates to a method to determine samples of an estimated channel characteristic of a channel between a transmitter and a receiver, a discrete wavelet multi tone transmitter comprising a cosine modulated filter bank adapted to modulated waveforms with transmit pulse amplitude modulated symbols, and a discrete wavelet multi tone receiver comprising a cosine modulated filter bank adapted to demodulate received pulse amplitude modulated symbols from waveforms, both equipped to perform steps of this method.
An overview of techniques to test or qualify digital subscriber lines is given in the article ‘DSL Loop Test’ from the authors Eric Hedlund and Tom Cullinan. This article was published on pages 48-52 of the Aug. 24, 1998 issue of the magazine ‘Telephony’, and emphasises the importance of testing loops before xDSL (any Digital Subscriber Line) services are provided there over. Through loop testing line imperfections such as load coils or bridged taps can be localised, and noise such as near-end crosstalk or far-end crosstalk can be measured. Moreover, knowledge of the channel impulse response facilitates synchronisation between the central office and customer premises equipment and setting the taps of an adaptive equaliser (equalising the channel characteristic so that the length of the cyclic prefixes or suffixes added to data symbols to avoid inter-symbol interference remains acceptable) in the receiver.
The known channel analysis techniques require separate test instruments. In the above mentioned article ‘DSL Loop Test’ a distinction is made between single-ended channel testing that requires test equipment only at the central office, and double-ended channel testing that requires test equipment at both ends, i.e. at the customer premises as well as at the central office. Double-ended testing requires dispatching of a technician, which is an extra expense that is difficult to justify. Amongst the known loop qualification techniques, singe-ended testing with test equipment only at the central office and without involvement of on-site technicians, is most cost-effective.